Australia may rue Matthew Renshaw's omission in South Africa Test series

Obscured by the fog of early-season football, Australia begins a compelling Test series in South Africa on Thursday during which some intriguing questions will be answered.

Can Australia's top order counter the talented, multi-pronged South African pace attack?

Will the pitches be as sporty — in this case, a euphemism for life-threatening — as those prepared for the explosive South Africa-India series?

Can the fiery Australian pace trio intimidate the local batsmen as they did England's?

But if you were not one of the handful of cricket tragics or dog walkers observing the unheralded return of Sheffield Shield cricket in the past fortnight, there is another pertinent question: Why isn't Matthew Renshaw in South Africa?

The literal-minded response is that Renshaw's surrendered his Test place with some miserable early-season Sheffield Shield form, something that might normally have satisfied those of us who constantly carp that the selectors' slavish devotion to centrally contracted players too often blinds them to first-class form.

You might go further and suggest Renshaw's replacement, Western Australian Cameron Bancroft, did enough to justify his place in Australia's dominant team — if not as much as the other contentious selections, Tim Paine and Shaun Marsh.

Bancroft's personal performances — 179 runs at 25.57 with a top score of 82 not out — were modest. But his union with David Warner, opening partnerships of 7, 173, 33, 5, 44, 122, 51, were decent. If not enough to proclaim Australia had found its own version of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes.

Yet Bancroft's mere adequacy was reminiscent of the self-titled 'Whitewash Wizard' George Bailey who was part of, but never vital to, Australia's clean sweep of 2013/14. Call him the 'Four-nil Factor'.

Bancroft's fierce advocates in the west, particularly Warriors coach Justin Langer, who virtually demanded his Test selection, would vehemently disagree with the suggestion he had not fully justified his place.

Yet Bancroft's grip on an opening berth was so weakened by the end of the Ashes series the Australian selectors would have included Joe Burns in the South African touring party as a 'break glass in case of emergency opener', or even a straight out replacement for Bancroft, had Burns not been injured in the most lamentable circumstances — a BBL training session.

Instead Peter Handscomb was given a reprieve despite having no opportunity to justify a recall to the Test squad. As it is, the Victorian's scores of a duck and 5 in the warm-up game against South Africa A don't provide much confidence a player seemingly at odds with an already-unorthodox technique has the confidence to take on a ferocious attack on challenging decks.

Renshaw deserves reward for re-modelled game

Which brings us back to Renshaw — about 11,000 kilometres back from the Australian team hotel in Port Elizabeth where some keen observers believe the Queenslander should be.

Particularly after Renshaw scored 170 and 112 in consecutive Sheffield Shield matches for Queensland against Victoria and South Australia — performances that suggested Renshaw had not merely rediscovered his confidence but was hitting the ball as sweetly as before his timely elevation to a then demoralised Australian team for the third Test against South African at Adelaide in 2016.

As much as Renshaw's back-to-back centuries, those observers obsessed by the banal Australian mantras of 'dominating the bowlers' and 'moving on the game' will note Renshaw's relatively fast scoring rate — 170 (218) and 112 (148) — and declare his return to the Sheffield Shield had improved his "intent".

But of course, it was Renshaw's penchant for leaving good balls rather than nicking them that was his greatest asset in his first 10 Tests (in which he scored 623 run at an average of 36.64) — never more so than in his unbeaten 34 from 137 balls against South Africa upon debut.

Besides, Renshaw has proven his ability to score quickly at first-class level before his latest attacking innings.

Former Australia opener Ed Cowan can empathise with Renshaw more than most. Both as a batsman capable of occupying the crease for long periods and as a player whose Test career was cruelly cut short after a few poor innings.

In Cowan's case, the end came after a single Ashes Test in Nottingham where he scored a duck and 14. Although an intelligent batsman harshly judged because of his sometimes attritional scoring rate was never in the short or long-term plans of Darren Lehmann, who had only just taken over as Australia coach at the time.

For the 21-year-old Renshaw, omission from the Ashes team would always be part of a brief time in exile from Test cricket, not a life sentence. Yet Cowan clearly believes Renshaw should not have been dropped from Australia's Test team.

Confronted on social media with the proposition that the abandonment of the Sheffield Shield during the BBL window meant Renshaw's campaign for South African tour selection had come too late, Cowan responded: "Or he had two bad weeks, which happens, and panic ensued."

Perhaps both propositions are true. The Sheffield Shield's hibernation means the squad for South Africa was picked on Ashes, ODI and (hopefully not) T20 form, and maybe Renshaw's prompt return to form means he would have regained touch at Test level just as quickly had the selectors shown faith.

Should Australia's top order fail in the face of South Africa's very challenging attack, the Renshaw question will linger.